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February 2005

WHALETONE DAY 3

In the afternoon, Nomura and I made melodies from two other pieces of `calligraphy` we chose the same key as the one made the previous evening and then faxed these two new melodies to Ayako.

We then made out a schedule for the evening -

1. Explore different voices from Thursday
2. Do some conducted 123 rules
3. Invent compositional rules for Hippo music
4. Make non-abstract pictures from the rest of the `calligraphy` using scissors and sellotape
5. Sing some of the black and white song
6. Write a quick `cats (LLoyd Webber) - style song`
7. Throw beans

Then during the nabe meal we would talk about and write the story line. As it turned out we did all of this and more, and finished at about 11.30.

Evening 7-11.30

First we listened to some of the md recording from the previous day. and we explained the schedule. We all did some versions of the Uma (plum) voices and the low men heather growling - this was really as a kind of warm-up.

Next we played a piece conducted by me to begin with - All vocal.
Rule 1 - drone,
2 - repeated rhythm/ostinato/riff (with much clapping, stamping and other sounds as it turned out)
3 - gibberish, imaginary language, mad conversation.

After we had done this for a while we did it without conductor and moved around the room. After maybe 10 minutes Nomura conducted us to finish with a glorious bit of men scratching chins and high women voices.

Nomura explained Yagi no Ongaku (Goat Music) and we then all invented a rule for Kaba no Ongaku (Hippo Music) and put these rules into a box. Out of a box we then chose some of the rules and tried them out.
These were the ones that were chosen-

• Open your nostrils as wide as you can
• Sleepy noises ( we tried this quiet and loud)
• Eat and sing ( we said we`d try this later, but actually did not)
• Sing a long note when tapped on the shoulder and when tapped again sing three short ah ah ah sounds. We did this as a big group. Very good. Also we decided that when you sing long note you can move.
• Eyes and mouth tight shut and sound then Eyes and mouth wide open and sound. We did this in small groups and watched each other. It is very good.
• A person makes a sound/action and someone else copies him/her. They can move around. If another person is inbetween the two making sounds then they must start a new sound and the first two stop. This was also very good.
• Half of your mouth must be in the water and you must make bubbles (we did not try this out)

Then we had a short break and Nomura chose 4 other Kaba rules for possible use.

• A sung version of Hippo - any pitch
• Only using the word Kaba like a mantra over and over, sometimes long, sometimes short syllables
• Crying and copying the sound of someone/something
• Hippo moves slow normally, but once he feels crisis he rushes into the water. So slow tempo, suddenly quick, then slow etc

After short break everyone chose calligraphies and began cutting and taping and everyone made wonderful images. 20 minutes later we had a gallery exhibition on the floor and people described their picture. They were-

1. Mountain/birds/onsen (hot springs)
2. Sunset birds
3. Iceberg
4. Plum tree with bird
5. Shell upside down and a gilr with a ribbon
6. An emotional singer
7. A strange alive musical instrument
8. A bird eating off a hand
9. Maria and a cross turning into a scarecrow
10. A fish in a deep sea (shinkaiyo)
11. A one-leeged creature with a big wing
12. A map of japan showing Ezuko hall
13. A mask party
14. A storm outside and a man inside
15. A zebra ready to run

I sang my song begining and explained that others could write more verses. I said that you might Pete and so please do by this evening!

I also explained the wholetone/whaletone connection and Nomura said that we should write one extra note into the wholetone scale to make it a whaletone scale so we have added an a - so the scale is F#, G#, A Bb, C, D, E

(Now discussing this with N at the computers we have decoded to add an extra black note also so still even amounts, so we have added an Eb also so we have an 8-note scale.)

Our attempt to write a Cats-style song was not entirely succesful, but we will continue tomorrow.

We had a great meal of nabe and rice balls and snacks and sake and beer. Ate it in Ezuko hall, a local woman made it. We had good chat and then Nomura led a Mostly japanese storywriting session after listing on a board everything we have made since Tuesday night. Lots of laughter.

Tonight we have other musicians join us and also simultaneous wind-band rehearsal.

Some new words-

• Tonosama - the leader of the samurai
• Ehagaki - postcards
• Michikai oto - a short sound - like staccato Gassho - chorus